Carbon
Since the Industrial Revolution, human activity has released unprecedented levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, placing increasing pressure on the Earth’s climate systems, ecosystems, and communities worldwide.
The Park Ecovillage Trust is committed to contributing to a just and regenerative future in which human wellbeing can flourish within ecological limits. In support of the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C, PET is engaging the whole Ecovillage and whole community in a transition toward Net Zero.
For PET, Net Zero is not simply about balancing emissions through offsetting. It means fundamentally redesigning how energy, mobility, food, buildings, land, and resources are managed so that emissions are reduced at source wherever possible, while strengthening the health, resilience, and regenerative capacity of the local ecosystem and community.
Our approach prioritises:
- reducing dependence on fossil fuels and extractive systems
- designing circular and low-impact resource flows
- supporting resilient local economies and shared infrastructure
- restoring soils, biodiversity, and ecological systems within our bioregion
- creating measurable long-term ecological and social benefit through community-led regeneration
PET recognises that meaningful climate responsibility requires more than carbon accounting alone. Our Net Zero pathway therefore prioritises deep emissions reduction and local ecological regeneration first, with external carbon offsetting used only as a limited and transitional measure where unavoidable residual emissions remain.
Through this work, PET seeks to demonstrate how communities can live well, equitably, and resiliently while remaining within the carrying capacity of the living systems on which all life depends.
The Park Ecovillage Findhorn: Towards Carbon Neutrality by 2030
Carbon Footprint
Park Ecovillage Trust is currently signposting a free-to-use carbon calculator that can be used by individuals, households, organisations, and businesses to measure annual greenhouse gas emissions, including specific activities such as travel and energy use. See link below.
At PET, we see carbon measurement as a practical starting point for understanding impact, identifying opportunities for reduction, and supporting long-term ecological responsibility. Measuring emissions helps communities and organisations make informed decisions about how energy, transport, food, materials, and other systems can be redesigned to operate within ecological limits.
The calculator can be used to:
- estimate overall annual carbon emissions
- understand the main sources of emissions across different activities
- track progress over time as reductions are implemented
- support planning for lower-impact lifestyles, organisations, and community systems
The platform also includes an optional carbon offsetting function. PET encourages users to prioritise emissions reduction and local ecological regeneration first, with offsetting considered only as a limited and transitional measure where unavoidable residual emissions remain.
The tool is straightforward to use. By completing the Comment box, users can record the assumptions, data sources, and activities included in each category, helping to improve consistency, transparency, and repeatability in future assessments.
Carbon and beyond
As part of our Net Zero pathway, we invite all members of Ecovillage Findhorn and the whole community to understand, track, and progressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with everyday activities such as heating, electricity, transport, food, and consumption.
Our approach prioritises eliminating fossil fuel dependence and reducing emissions at source wherever possible through changes in infrastructure, behaviour, land stewardship, and resource use. Meaningful climate action requires not only reducing harm, but actively contributing to the regeneration of the living systems that support community wellbeing.
Where emissions cannot yet be fully avoided, PET prioritises local carbon insetting and ecological regeneration initiatives within our bioregion and across Scotland. These projects aim to strengthen long-term ecological resilience while supporting measurable carbon storage, biodiversity recovery, healthier soils, and wider social benefit.
PET is developing a portfolio of locally rooted regeneration initiatives that community members, organisations, and visitors will be able to support. These projects are intended not simply as compensation mechanisms, but as part of a wider transition toward a regenerative regional economy and healthier ecological relationships.
We recognise that carbon offsetting can be controversial, even though it has played an important historical role in climate action. However, many organisations are now moving toward direct emissions reduction and place-based ecological regeneration, as these approaches create clearer accountability, stronger local benefit, and more durable climate impact.
We recommend that organisations and individuals in the community whose guests travel long distances to Ecovillage, especially when flying, consider balancing travel emissions.
Efficient cookstoves Uganda
Rainforest preservation Brazil
Trees For Life – Scotland
Carbon Strategy
PET is continuously developing a Net Zero and regeneration strategy that includes:
- calculating and transparently monitoring greenhouse gas emissions across relevant activities and operations;
- reducing and avoiding emissions wherever possible, particularly through transitioning away from fossil fuel dependence and redesigning systems for lower ecological impact;
- supporting locally rooted carbon insetting and ecological regeneration initiatives that restore soils, strengthen biodiversity, enhance ecosystem resilience, and create long-term social and environmental benefit within our bioregion and the communities connected to it;
- encouraging circular, regenerative, and place-based approaches that contribute to community wellbeing while operating within ecological limits;
- using carefully assessed external carbon removal or offsetting mechanisms only where unavoidable residual emissions remain and where local insetting approaches are not yet sufficient.
Carbon Action Group
PET invited residents of the Park to explore practical ways of reducing individual and household greenhouse gas emissions while strengthening community resilience and ecological responsibility. The Carbon Action Group, funded by the Berry Burn Fund, aligned its activities with the wider community aspiration of progressing toward Net Zero through emissions reduction, behaviour change, shared learning, and regenerative local action.
Participants were encouraged to exchange knowledge, experiences, and practical solutions that could support lower-impact lifestyles and inspire wider community engagement. The initiative fostered collaborative learning around energy use, transport, consumption, food systems, and everyday choices, while recognising the importance of collective action and mutual support in creating long-term change.
Alongside this work, related initiatives sought to support Park organisations and businesses in aligning their operations with lower-carbon, more regenerative approaches that contribute positively to both community wellbeing and ecological health.
The programme also acknowledged the wider challenges and uncertainties associated with the global climate crisis, recognising that meaningful action requires both practical emissions reduction and deeper cultural and systemic transformation.
The project was grounded in the community’s core principle of being part of nature, listening for deeper guidance, and recognising that individual and collective actions can contribute positively to the wellbeing of both people and the living systems on which life depends.
Funded by Berryburn Community Fund
